Saturday, October 31, 2009

What Were They Thinking?! - omg! photos on Yahoo!: "For once Paris Hilton's hair looked halfway decent, but the vintage, safety-pin-adorned Versace dress she wore to the LA premiere of 'This Is It' appeared to be a fashion school project faux pas."

This is the time of year when people like to list the books that scared them or that gave them nightmares. Two of the scariest books I've ever read are about houses: this one and Shirley Jacksons's The Haunting of Hill House. While Jackson's book has plenty of frights and chills, Hodgson's is the one that gave me nightmares. I think it was the swine people, or maybe the journey to the end of the universe. Whatever it was, it haunted me for a few nights after I read it. I can't think of any other book that's affected me that way.

Have I mentioned before how much I hate the twice-a-year time change? Why, yes, I believe I have.But that's not going to stop me from mentioning it again. I think the whole thing is ridiculous. If I could find just one incontrovertible study that shows the switch is good for something, then I might feel better about it, but I can't find one. It seems to me that what we have is the massive disruption of millions of lives, and for no good reason. I say pick a time, Standard or Daylight Saving, and stick with it. Set it and forget it. Stop screwing around with my circadian rhythm!

Bill Willingham is best known for the Fables series of graphic novels, and this novel is set in the world of the Fables. I'll probably screw this up, but there's the deal. The Fables now live here on earth, but they're originally from many other planets, forced to leave their homes by "The Adversary." Apparently their stories have "leaked" into our world, too, so we know a lot about the Fables, but in garbled form. The Fables have their own enclave in New York City, as well as a bunch of land in upstate New York. They live separate from us, and we're not aware that they're around.

I haven't read all the graphic novels about the Fables, but I've enjoyed the ones I've read. So I thought I'd give this novel a try. It's the story of the Piper brothers, Peter and Max. You've heard of them if you've read nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and a lot of the fun of this book is the way Willingham weaves the things we're familiar with into an unfamiliar story.

Max is the evil brother. He's been visited our planet once before and wreaked havoc. Now he's back, and it's up to Peter to stop him. Peter doesn't mingle with the other Fables much. He lives quietly on the Farm with his wife, Bo Peep. Now, however, he has to venture back into the world. Most of the book, however, is taken up with the backstory of how Bo and Peter got together, how Max went bad, and what happened to them then. It's an entertaining story, and a surprisingly dark one, too. It was a lot of fun to read.

There's a sort of a happy ending, but after that there's a short story in graphic form that tells "The Price of a Happy Ending." The story's drawings are by Steve Leialoha, who also provides the novel's illustrations. You get a lot for your money here, and I recommend it highly if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.

Okay, I'll admit that this isn't exactly forgotten. Hitt seems to be going through something of a heyday now, and there's even a blog devoted to him. Besides that, James Reasoner's already reviewed this book. But what the heck. I had a copy, so I thought I'd read it.

It's crime/adventure novel set in a fictionalized version of the Philippines, with gun-running and cocaine driving the plot. Hank Storms has agreed with provide guns to a revolutionary group in return for big bucks. Little does he know that the money will be transported by his wife, for whom he has no love at all. The money changes hands a number of times in a series of crosses and double-crosses, and there are several nice little turns in the plot before it all gets resolved.

A couple of things surprised me about the book. One is that it's a political novel in a way. The Cocoa Republic politics are what drive the plot, and Hitt does a pretty fair job of depicting the sad situation of the people living in Sanbolo, a real hell-hole if there ever was one.

The other surprising thing is how mild and harmless this book is. People talk about sex a lot (using no dirty words, ever), and the women are described in loving detail. But the sex? Well, Hank Storms, the heel hero, sleeps with three of them in one night, but there's sure nothing explicit about the encounters. Here's one hot scene:

"You might be more woman than I can handle," he breathed.

"I doubt it."

And she wasn't.

Here's another one:

"You're the first," she whispered.

He was.

He didn't go back to the ship until morning.

Now you might be thinking that this is the kind of thing that passed for hot stuff in 1958. You'd be wrong. Gold Medal Books had been hotter than this for six or seven years by 1958. Hitt doesn't even use cuss words. People say, "I don't give a rap." Or they call Sanbolo "the rear end of the world."

I had fun reading this book. It's not great, but it's okay, and it has a great cover. The ending is typical '50s. I don't know if it's typical Hitt.

TBO.com - News From AP: "Most college students put in a monster study session or two. Marina Levina's students get to spend sessions studying monsters.

The course, 'Film Topics: Monster Movies,' at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of a number around the country that mix scares and scholarship, using zombies, vampires and other ogres to study popular culture.

'It was mesmerizing watching the crowd wave at us, at Anna and me, up there all buffed out on the car,' Dr. Sandeep Kapoor recalled in his diary. Even more heady than the police escort and the paparazzi, he wrote, was the nightclub after-party.

'I was making out with Anna, my patient, blurring the lines. I gave her methadone, Valium,' the internist wrote. He then added, 'Can she ruin me?'"

He was 87 when on Thursday, October 22, he died. You may never have heard of Ray Browne, but I had known him for forty years and he wonderfully shaped my life and that of every other mystery writer of the last four decades who sported academic credentials."

The first articles I ever read in The Journal of Popular Culture was Mike's series on Keeler, and I still have my copy of The Mystery Writer's Art. A portion of my dissertation was published in a book by the Popular Press, and I later published an article on backwoods paperbacks in The Journal.

The British actor, who was a regular in the cult Hammer horror films of the 1960s and 1970s, tells CNN that movies like the Saw franchise, The Hills Have Eyes, Halloween and Cabin Fever leave him feeling sick.

Lee says, 'I find it quite nauseating what they do. The blood is all over the screen like an avalanche - the mutilation - dreadful things, and I just don't enjoy that.'"

Shane Black Scribing a Doc Savage Movie for Star Trek Producers | /Film: "Nifty screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is apparently at work on a new adaptation of Doc Savage—the pulpy 1930s alphamale hero—for the tentpole production duo Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers and Star Trek franchises). What’s more, Black let it be known to AICN that the project will be a period piece set in the aforementioned decade rather than one in modern day complete with hoverboards and H1N1."

Bensalem police said they arrested a Philadelphia woman Tuesday after she offered to perform various sex acts to an undercover officer in exchange for tickets.

According to police, Susan Finkelstein, 43, posted an ad on Craigslist that read:'DESPERATE BLONDE NEEDS WS TIX (Philadelphia)'Diehard Phillies fan—gorgeous tall buxom blonde— in desperate need of two World Series Tickets. Price negotiable--- I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!'"

Hey, guys, they're kicking our butts at Trivial Pursuit | NetworkWorld.com Community: "The 'experiment,' which began Oct. 7 and runs through Dec. 31, is simple and the rules even simpler: You go to Hasbro's special Trivial Pursuit Web site, announce your gender, and start answering questions in the categories -- art/literature, sports/leisure, science/nature, geography, history and entertainment -- that are familiar to anyone who has ever ruined an otherwise tranquil family gathering with a bout of the classic board game. Every correct answer earns your 'team' a point."

They're not kicking my butt. The Art & Literature questions are all a snap.

The folks at city hall will pay cash bounties to informants who turn in business tax cheats around the city. The reward would amount to some sort of percentage of the tax money that the city recovers."

Google is on quite a roll adding social media features. Last month, it launched the controversial Sidewiki application. At the rate Google is going it will not only own the web, but the social web – by the end of next week."

Top 10 Ghostwritten Books as Chosen by AbeBooks: "No matter where you go on the planet you will find tales of the supernatural. Spirits, spooks and spectres are everywhere. However, there is one reclusive mythical creature that particularly sparks fear in literary hearts – the ghostwriter."

Stephen King To Co-Write ‘American Vampire’ Comic Book: "Acclaimed horror novelist Stephen King is hardly a stranger to comic books thanks to Marvel's adaptations of 'The Dark Tower' and 'The Stand,' and Del Rey's upcoming adaptation of 'The Talisman,' but the writer is looking to branch out into unchartered territory with entirely original comic book content.

According to The New York Times, King will co-write a new series titled 'American Vampire' for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The title's first five-issue arc will feature two 16-page stories, one written by King and the other written by Scott Snyder. Rafael Albuquerque will illustrate."

spectrumfantasticart.com: 2009 continues to be, let's face it, a terrible one for the arts community. It is with the deepest sorrow that we have to report that legendary artist, colleague, Spectrum Grand Master, Advisory Board member, and close friend Don Ivan Punchatz died October 22.[. . . .]If you didn't know Don Ivan Punchatz's work or who Don was... you should have. A true giant of American illustration of the last half of the 20th Century, he joined Mark English, Bob Peak, and Bernie Fuchs as one of the most important and high-profile artists of the day. Don was renowned for his illustrations for Playboy, National Geographic, Boys Life, and Penthouse; for his advertising work Exxon and Atlantic Records; for his book covers for Ace, Warner, Berkley, and Dell, and his covers for TIME, Newsweek, and National Lampoon. Punchatz was also accepted in the Fine Art world and his paintings are part of the permanent collections of the Dallas Art Museum and the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.

Overnight, as he slept, thieves had stolen the driver's side wheels from his county vehicle, an unmarked black 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe, while it was parked at his home in the Lindale neighborhood in north Houston. The incident is being investigated as a theft of county equipment, with losses estimated at $1,600."

Did you ever see the Peanuts Sunday strip where the gang is lying on a hillock looking at the clouds and commenting on the shapes? The dialogue goes like this:

Linus: Well, those clouds up there look to me look like the map of the British Honduras in the Caribbean. (He points up.)Linus: That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there...(He points again.)Linus: ...gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side. Lucy: Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown? Charlie Brown: Well... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

Okay, you may be asking yourself what that has to do with the book I was planning to review today. Here's the answer. I'd started writing my crummy little comments, and then I read this review by The Little Professor, which made me feel exactly like Charlie Brown. So read her review, and give me a pass.

Keith and Connie Dersham of Michigan discovered how magical it can be while stopping last week in Jefferson to dine at Kitt's Kornbread Sandwich & Pie Bar, a restaurant renown for its homemade cornbread sandwiches.

'It's an experience,' Dersham described after eating a cornbread sandwich, dubbed 'The Texan.' The entree, which has chili and cheese sandwiched between golden cornbread, is the only sandwich that must be eaten with a fork."

Aside: Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that there are only a few people left who understand the correct use of renown?

It started with a couple out for a walk with their dog. Robert Shlemon, 26, admitted his pet peed on Hatice Cullingford's plants. Cullingford, 64, confronted Shlemon and his fiance in an argument that grew heated.

'He said he would go back and get his gun,' said Cullingford. 'I said, 'I'll shoot you.''"

British victory at Agincourt may be punctured by academia - The Denver Post: ". . . Agincourt's status as perhaps the greatest victory against overwhelming odds in military history has been called into doubt by a group of historians in Britain and France who have painstakingly combed an array of military and tax records from that time and now take a skeptical view of the numbers handed down by medieval chroniclers.

The historians have concluded that the English could not have been outnumbered by more than about two to one. And depending on how the math is carried out, Henry might have faced something closer to an even fight, said Anne Curry, a professor at the University of Southampton who is leading the study."

Top 50 Cartoon Characters - The Best Cartoon Characters of All Time: "Cartoon characters are as endearing to adults as children. Many times we can relate to them. Most of the time we just love to laugh at their antics and misfortune. Following is the list of top 50 cartoon characters of all time, judged for their influence, their popularity and their hilarity."

Theater Review: The Wonder Bread Years - Theater and Musical Production Reviews: "Scripter-performer Pat Hazell has developed a leisurely paced but effective extended standup comedy act built around the societal absurdities that bombarded his psyche while growing up during the baby boom years in Omaha, Neb. Hazell's references are distinctly middle-class suburban WASP, but they communicate enough universal truths to bring smiles of recognition from anyone weaned on 'The Howdy Doody Show' and TV ads that proclaimed, 'Sugar Pops are tops.'"

I picked this to read on the plane to Bouchercon, mainly because I can't resist books about writers and not because I'm a fan of Harris' work. In fact, I picked up Pompeii to read on another plane trip and wasn't impressed. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that I enjoyed The Ghost quite a bit.

Here's the set-up: a ghost writer who's done books for fading rock stars and movie stars and such is asked to write the memoirs of a former English prime minister (who's a lot like Tony Blair). He takes the job even though the guy who'd originally signed on has died under mysterious circumstances.

The ghost (who's never named, as is appropriate for a ghost) tells the story in the first person. He flies to the U. S., where the former PM is staying, and looks at the manuscript the first writer had done. It's awful. The the PM is accused of assisting the U. S. in torture renditions during the Iraq unpleasantness. And the ghost begins to wonder if there are things he's not being told. He investigates. And what he finds . . . .

I like to think that Harris got the idea for this book when one day he was asking himself just exactly why Tony Blair had occasionally been called "Bush's poodle." I think Harris might said to himself, "I wonder why Blair seems to devoted to Bush and the Americans and their Iraq adventure." And then he might have said, "Hey, I know one possible answer!" So he wrote this book.

The ghost's narration is smooth, the details about ghost-writing are interesting, and the story speeds right along. A perfect airplane book. And the last paragraph, . . . . Well, I'm not telling, but I thought it was pretty clever, considering the title.